A Warm Place
by Darwin Tremor
Summary: Darwin Tremor has just finished a hit when he stops at a café and he meets a woman. Intrigued by her back story, he gives her the opportunity to work for him. While their relationship evolves, Darwin becomes distracted and he angers a very powerful client. With the help of his three brothers, they band together to help Darwin and protect his girlfriend, Red.
1. Meeting

" _Darwin, when the hell are you gonna be back home?_ " his brother's tone is harsh, but he sounds concerned. Darwin is lying down in his Pontiac Bonneville and he's in an abandoned gas station, wielding goggles over his eyes and a toothpick sticking out of the corner of his mouth.

He grunts, lifting the hem of his sleeveless shirt up to expose his stomach to the breeze that blows in through the open window at his side.

" _You know, Lester, you sound just like my non-existent mother,_ " he replies.

There's an audible sigh and a brief moment of silent.

" _Well, I hope it's soon because I can't sleep well at night knowin' that you've been out there fer a month. Shit, Jim got all banged up from his last hit and he's eager ta get back out there. Jeeves is more interested in stayin' home, thank God,_ " Lester updates him.

Darwin exhales, lifting the goggles from his eyes to reveal their color. They're cobalt blue, almost supernatural in appearance.

" _I know you want me back home, but I got two more hits to complete,_ " he looks in his rear-view mirror at his trunk. " _I'm in the middle of one now._ "

Lester sighs again, exasperated.

" _Well, goddammit, why didn't ya tell me? I don't wanna interrupt you while yer on the job,_ " Lester starts. " _Just text me a little more often than never an' I'll get off yer back._ "

Darwin exits his car and he walks to his trunk. He unlocks it and lifts the hood to reveal a man with a gag over his mouth. His hands tied behind his back.

He grabs the front of the man's shirt and he leans him up and then he yanks him out of the trunk. The man falls on the ground and a cloud of dirt rises around him. He tries to wiggle away, but Darwin presses the sole of his combat boot against the bloody wound on the man's side.

It causes him to wince, so he decides to stay put.

" _Fine, I can do that,_ " Darwin agrees.

He narrows his eyes at the cliff and then he begins to roll the man closer to it with his foot.

" _You take care out there, bro,_ " and then Lester ends the call.

Darwin pockets his cell phone, and he finally reaches the edge of the cliff. The man desperately tries to squirm in the opposite direction.

The man under Darwin's heel is Danny Briggs, and his crime is that he was abusing his wife. Having had enough, she summoned one of the Tremors. She didn't care which one would help her because she knew that any of the four brothers would be able to get the job done and no one will be able to trace the crime back to her. They were professionals and their particular sets of skills made them popular for anyone that hungered for revenge.

They're brothers, they're blood and they're killers.

Lester wields a compound bow and a shotgun, and one weapon relies on precision while the other doesn't. He's capable of using both to their full effect, and when he's not vanquishing his victims in the field, he brings his target back home and he situates them in the large shed on the side of their two-story farmhouse to torture them. Tattooed from his elbows to the tips of his fingers are human bones, and each bone is anatomically accurate and in the right place. He's precise and he's exceptional at what he does, when he has to do it.

Jeeves wields a chainsaw, a couple of firearms and a war hammer. The second youngest—but the tallest of the brothers—is a behemoth. He stands at 6'6," and the scent of blood drives him insane. Blood to him is what the color red is to a bull. He's known to bite his victims to death and he kills people with his bare hands as well.

Jim wields whatever weapon he pleases, but he prefers firearm because they're quick and effective. He prefers knives; too, because they're personal, and it allows him to be close to his victims as he kills them. And like Jeeves, the blood flowing through his veins is the blood of a berserker: a southern psychopath that enjoys murder.

Darwin wields duel-machetes, a grease gun and stalk hand grenades. He's the oldest brother, the leader, and he's known to disarm his victims and subdue his targets by using their pressure points to overpower them. He's not known for his mercy and his compassion.

The leader reaches down, and he tugs the gag out of Danny's mouth to let him talk.

" _Please, don't do this! I have a wife,_ " he pleads.

Darwin smirks, applying a little more pressure to Danny's side to lean him closer to the edge. Danny squeezes his eyes shut when he feels the cold air against his back.

" _I know you have a wife, Danny, because she's the one that hired me,_ " Darwin reveals. " _Oh, yeah, she was tired of bein' your punchin' bag, so she decided to do somethin' about it._ "

The look on Danny's face says it all.

Darwin scratches his stubbly cheek, looking off into the distance and then his cell phone rings.

" _Ah, I got a phone call. Excuse me for a moment,_ " he pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and all of a sudden, he pushes Danny over the cliff and then he turns, pressing the phone to his ear.

" _Good, you're callin' me on the phone we provided for you,_ " Darwin turns his head, listening to Danny's scream, as it gets softer and softer.

" _Yes… Yes, I am,_ " Danny's wife pauses. " _You said it would be done by now, so is it?_ "

Darwin presses his phone against his chest to hear for Danny again and he can't hear him anymore. He smirks, returning the phone to his ear.

" _It is. You're a free woman, Ms. Briggs, and if you follow everythin' accordin' to plan, you'll be just fine,_ " Darwin explains.

He can hear her sniffling, and he makes his way back to his car.

" _Thank you,_ " she murmurs.

Darwin shuts the hood of his trunk, gets back into his car and he starts it.

" _You're welcome,_ " and then he drives off after he hangs up.

It's a lazy morning in Las Vegas, and Darwin reaches down to combs his hand through the wrappers on the passenger's seat next to him. He finds a stale peanut butter cracker and he stares at it, wondering how long it's been there.

He shrugs his shoulders, popping it into his mouth as he makes a left turn.

Knowing that he needs some real food, Darwin drives to the closet restaurant he knows and where the workers know him, too: Tiffany's Café.

After parking his car, he enters the establishment and he nods to the man behind the counter. Darwin slides into a booth near the window, and a waitress hands him a menu and pours him a cold glass of water.

Outside, a redheaded woman walks by his window and she stops near the front door. She pulls her curly hair into a ponytail and she lowers the backpack from her shoulder to reach into one of its pockets. She begins to unravel a few dollar bills and she counts the coins.

Darwin continues to observe her as she enters the café.

Once the woman situates herself on a stool, he lowers his gaze back down to the menu as the man behind the counter approaches her, pad and pen in his hand.

" _What will you have, sweets?_ " he asks.

The woman continues to stare at the menu and she places her money down on the counter.

" _What can I get for three dollars and seventy-two cents?_ " she whispers, embarrassed to talk any louder. " _I don't have anything else._ "

Darwin looks over at the woman again, strangely intrigued.

The waitress saunters over to Darwin's table and scribbles his order down. She takes his menu away and he rubs his hands together, listening.

" _Everything on our menu is four dollars or more, but we can give you toast and a cup of coffee or glass of water,_ " he clarifies.

The woman seizes the offer, and she pushes the money to his edge of the counter.

Darwin looks at the condition of the woman. She's wearing hiking boots, shorts and a shirt. He leans a little to the left to see a map and small book about trails tucked into the pocket of her backpack. He pegs her for the type that probably abandoned her life in search for the meaning of it and all she probably found was a pile of bear shit in the woods.

Amazed, he shakes his head and as the woman looks around the café, she sees Darwin looking at her. He doesn't look away.

Her eyes widen and she turns to face the kitchen again, going completely still.

" _Monster with a side of fries?_ " the waitress approaches Darwin with his meal.

" _That was fast,_ " he nods his head and leans back to let her place the plate down on the table along with a white foam container.

" _It's not that busy today, thank the Lord,_ " his waitress sighs. " _Well, if you need anything else, don't be afraid to ask._ "

The waitress leaves to greet the next person that sits herself down at the other side of the café.

Darwin cuts his large burger down the middle and he places one half into the open container and then he dumps half of his fries into the container, too.

He begins to eat what's left on his plate, watching the woman chew on her toast as if he were watching a character from a television show.

What is she going to do next?

Unimpressed by the toast and annoyed by her condition, the woman shoulders her backpack and she heads to the bathroom.

Darwin continues to eat his meal and he's finished by the time she reemerges. She's dressed in clean clothes and he can smell the perfume that she dabbed on. It smells earthy. When she returns to her things, she folds the last piece of toast in a napkin and she tucks it into her backpack and then she heads out the door.

Darwin follows her with his eyes and he places a twenty-dollar bill on the counter, grabs the container of food and then he leaves the café, too.

He stands on the sidewalk, looking around. He spots her walking down the block and he follows her, making sure that she doesn't see him. Darwin is good at that.

As he walks, people make an effort to cross the street to avoid him and the women that do pass by clutch their purses a little harder. He looks like a criminal, and that's because he is one.

He's an asshole, too, but he doesn't enjoying seeing innocent people down on their luck. He knows nothing about this woman, or whether she's a good or bad person, but if he can be kind to someone, he will be. Plus, he's curious about her life's story.

The woman enters Bob Baskin Park, which has taken them a little over half an hour to reach, and she sits down on a bench. A few pigeons and doves begin to peck around her.

Darwin holds the container in his hand, watching her from a distance again.

She's bent over for some reason and as he comes a little closer, he sees that she's feeding the birds her last piece of toast. That oddly touches him and he's suddenly glad that he took half an hour out of his day to follow a stranger to the park.

The birds scatter when he approaches her and he sits on the bench across of her, and he stares at the woman. She stares back at him, visibly tense.

" _I saw you in the café and I couldn't help but notice that you could only afford a few scrawny slices of toast,_ " he begins. " _Here, take this._ "

Darwin holds out the container to her, and she looks at it.

" _Why?_ " she asks.

Regardless, she takes the container and Darwin leans back against the bench.

" _I haven't figured that out yet, but I will,_ " he rubs his fingers together.

The woman places the container down on her lap and she opens it. The smell of bacon and cheese and beef and French fries rises to her nostrils, and the aroma makes her eyes water. She begins to eat, savoring the taste that's bursting in her mouth.

" _So, where did you come from? It looks like you've come a long way,_ " he nods to her worn down boots and dirt stained socks.

The woman bashfully ducks her head down when she realizes how she must look. She reaches down to find a napkin in her backpack and Darwin reaches in his back pocket, pulling out a handkerchief. He hands it to her and she shyly takes it.

" _Thank you,_ " she wipes her mouth. " _I was living in Michigan, and I decided to quit my job, leave my apartment and give the rest of my belongings to Good Will and then I embarked on a hike across the states. I rode buses when my feet bled, slept in cheap motels, lived off of river water and fountains in parks, and granola bars, and…_ "

She goes quiet, chewing on the tip of a French fry until it gets soggy. The last few months of her life have been excruciatingly tough on her.

" _And it was a mistake,_ " Darwin ends her sentence.

The woman places the French fry down and she keeps her gaze adverted.

" _What are you gonna do now?_ " he wonders.

That question makes her feel nauseous and there's something final about it, even without its answer. She stares at the meal in her lap, and it dawns on her that this will probably be the last good meal that she'll ever eat.

" _I don't know,_ " she breathes.

Darwin studies her and he tilts his head to the side, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

He stands up from the bench and he hooks his thumb on his left pocket and then he looks in the direction of where they both came from.

" _I'll…_ " he hesitates to continue. " _I need someone to help me with somethin' and since it seems like you're free, you can assist me. And I'll pay you, of course._ "

The woman slowly lifts her eyes to him and she blinks.

" _You're not a pimp or a recruiter for a sex ring, are you?_ " she asks, worried.

Darwin smirks and he traces his lower lip with his thumb.

" _No, I can't say that I am,_ " he answers.

She doesn't have anything to lose, really, so she slowly stands from the bench and she hangs her backpack on her shoulder again.

" _Okay, I'll go with you,_ " she follows Darwin as he leads her out of the park.

They make it back to his car, and he opens the passenger's side door and he leans in to clean up the wrappers on the seat. He stuffs the garbage into a plastic bag and he tosses the bag into the trash bin on the sidewalk.

The woman sits inside of his car and she looks around, noticing how strange its interior is. It smells like smoke and some kind of oil that she can't identify.

Darwin gets in and slams the door shut. He puts his key into the ignition, and he looks at her before he starts the engine.

He holds his hand out to her.

" _I'm Darwin,_ " he introduces himself.

The woman slips her pale and slender hand against his callous and rough palm.

" _I'm Red,_ " she smiles.

He firmly shakes her hand and he places his hand back on the steering wheel as his other hand turns to start the car. 'Let Me Out' by Electric Mary screams through his speakers and Red immediately covers her ears with her hands.

" _Shit, sorry about that,_ " he softens the music.

Darwin reverses his car and he drives off down the road.

As they make their way down the street, Red chews on her lower lip and she eyes the radio. She reaches out to touch the knob, and with reflexes like a cat, Darwin grabs her wrist.

His body reacts before his mind does.

" _What are you doin'?_ " he returns his eyes to the road and his hand to the steering wheel.

Red hugs her hand to her chest, rubbing her wrist.

" _I was… I was about to ask if I can listen to the radio,_ " she nervously stutters.

He glances at her from the corner of his eye and he inclines his head.

Receiving permission, Red switches the settings and she searches for what she wants and then she finds it. 'This Too Shall Pass' by Danny Schmidt starts to play on NPR.

They come to an intersection and a stoplight, and Darwin shifts in his seat, not used to listening to this kind of music. It's strange, but there's something endearing about it.

He's used to singers roaring their lyrics at him, not serenading him.

It's an interesting change, and strange enough, it's not a bad one.

Still on alert, Red reads every street sign that they pass and she leans closer to the door as if she believes that she can roll out and survive the damage it would do to her if she had to bail out.

Fifteen minutes later, Darwin pulls up to The Venetian hotel.

He gets out of his car and grabs a duffel bag from his backseat and then he opens Red's door. She looks around before she steps out to stand, expecting a van of men to pull up and abduct her, or something so terrible that she can't even imagine it yet.

" _I'm gonna book us a room here and I'm gonna explain what I need you to do for me. I'll give you money to buy new clothes and whatever else you need to take care of yourself, and all you have to do is learn. Can you do that?_ " he gives a brief summary of what she should expect, and Red slowly nods her head.

She feels like she died somewhere on her journey and all of this is her journey to Heaven. Everything is changing so quickly, which causes her anxiety to slowly rise.

They walk to the front doors, and they step into the luxurious lobby.

There's a giant sculpture in the middle of the room of four, bare-breasted women carrying the weight of a golden world on their backs.

Darwin pulls out his wallet and he places his bag on the floor.

" _Wait here while I book our room, and don't try to lift my bag, you won't be able to,_ " he doesn't wait for her to respond and he goes to the desk to reserve a room.

A few more people fill the lobby and Red becomes more and more aware of her appearance. She feels underdressed and she feels too exposed. She feels like everyone is looking at her, so she lets her hair down and she tries to hide her face with her curls.

Darwin returns to her and he picks his bag up from the floor. He notices the way she darts her eyes around as if she's looking for an escape.

" _Hey, you okay?_ " he touches her forearm and she flinches away from him.

Red looks around for the elevator and then she lowers her head on the verge of a full-blown panic attack. She tries to remain calm as she speaks.

" _Can we get to our room, please?_ " her voice trembles.

Darwin touches her lower back and he leads her away.

Once they step inside of the elevator, Red stands with her back against the corner and she almost tries to vanish into it. She doesn't speak on the ride up.

Finally, they reach the top floor, which is the penthouse, and Darwin unlocks their door.

Red enters first and Darwin follows, locking the door behind them. She stares at the large space, and she finds the panel of light switches against the wall and then she turns off the overhead lights. She softens more of the other lights, too, leaving only a few lamps on.

Darwin studies this, and he walks into the formal living room to turn its light down, too.

" _This is the penthouse, the best room in the whole place, and it's ours for a few days,_ " he speaks softly to her. " _There's a Master bedroom and a Second bedroom, two bathrooms, too._ "

Red stays near the door and Darwin approaches her. She shies away from him.

" _I don't belong here,_ " she whispers.

Darwin doesn't know what's upsetting her, but he knows a panic attack when he sees one. He keeps his voice calm and cheerful. Well, as cheerful as a man like him can sound.

" _Hell, I don't, either, but here we are. You have your own bedroom, and if you need a day to relax and unwind, you can do that. There ain't no rush,_ " he tries to comfort her in the only way that he knows how. He lists only the positives, so she forgets the negatives.

And it works.

Red takes a deep breath and she apprehensively walks into the next room to look around, and she finds herself in the Second bedroom.

The Second bedroom has two windows that overlook Las Vegas, and there's a Queen size bed against the wall with a dresser across of it. There's also a small table and a couch, and a flat-screen television mounted on the wall. Everything is painted with shades of gold.

She's about to place her backpack on the bed, but she decides to place it on the floor, instead. Red sits on the chair and she begins to remove her boots and then she peels her socks off her aching feet. Darwin leans against the doorframe, quietly watching her.

She moves her boots off to the side and she looks at him.

" _I don't know how good I'll be at the job you want me to do, but I promise to do my best,_ " she rubs the pad of her foot against the rich carpet.

Darwin slowly nods his head, wondering how he's going to tell her that he's an assassin and he wants her to remove the armor from his body when he comes back from his next hit. He doesn't really need anyone to do that for him because he's done it by himself for years, but giving her a reason sounded a lot better than the truth.

" _You should take a hot bath to relax yourself,_ " he suggests.

Red stares at him and this time, Darwin looks away.

" _Thank you, Darwin,_ " she's sincere and on the verge of crying because she's happy.

Darwin turns to leave her room and he grabs his bag on the way to his Master bedroom. He closes his bedroom door and he stands near the window, calling his house.

" _You've reached Jim,_ " his brother murmurs, drugged with painkillers.

" _Hey there, smartass. Good to know you didn't die,_ " Darwin smiles, even though Jim can't see it. " _Are you the only one awake?_ "

There's the sound of a faint thud and then another, and then there's the muffled sound of a very pissed off Lester. His vocabulary is colorful, borderline hilarious.

" _Jimmy Eugene Frankenstein Tremor, what the ever-livin' fuck are you doin' outta bed? Get off me, ya dick,_ " Lester grabs Jim by his underarms, leaning his brother away from him.

Meanwhile, Darwin is softly thumping his forehead against the glass window as he listens to the sound of aggravation and shuffling feet.

Lester finally grabs hold of the phone and he ushers Jim back to his own bedroom. Once he has him settled back into bed, he heavily sighs and situates himself in a chair.

" _Dar, this conversation better start off with you tellin' me that yer comin' home,_ " he hopes.

There's a sigh and a pause and then there's disappointment.

" _I met a woman,_ " he let's that sink in.

Lester is silent this time as he remembers the last time Darwin brought home a woman. That relationship didn't go so well. Tanya Peltzer, that was her name. She was a sassy, blonde woman that nearly ruined Darwin's relationship with his brothers. She belittled Jeeves' intelligence, pretended that Jim didn't exist and she treated Lester like her maid whenever she was over.

" _Yeah? She, uh, nice?_ " Lester rubs the back of his neck, concerned.

Darwin sits down on the edge of his bed, and he tries to mentally summarize Red's personality in his head and he slowly nods.

" _She ain't like Tanya, if that's what you're askin',_ " there's a little edge to his tone. " _Her name is Red, and I met her in a café. The only thing she had on her was a backpack that contained all of her belongin's. She abandoned her life to just wander and explore the states. And I… She was down to her last dollar, so I gave her half my meal and now we're kinda in a hotel._ "

The sigh that exits Lester's lips is louder this time.

" _You tellin' me that yer shackin' up with a woman in some hotel and that's the reason you ain't back home with your brothers yet?_ " Lester grumbles.

" _We're not shackin' up, asshole. We're at The Venetian, and it's this real ritzy place. We're stayin' in the Penthouse Suite and I'm stayin' in the Master bedroom, while she's in the Second bedroom,_ " he rubs the bridge of his nose.

Lester hears the tension in his brother's voice, so he considers the way he's going to phrase his next question. It has to be asked, though.

" _Is there a reason yer tellin' me all this?_ " his voice calm, non-judgmental.

Darwin stares at the buildings outside of his window, wondering how much people are awake right now. He thinks about Red and he likes her, but God, he just met her a few hours ago. He's not sure if he likes her for her strangeness and beauty or if it's because he hasn't been in the company of a woman in awhile.

" _I told her that I'd hire her to help me. I thought I'd give her a purpose because I don't think she would have been so willin' to come with me if I just asked her. She don't know what I do for a livin', though, that I kill people,_ " Darwin lies back on the bed and he rests the back of his hand on his forehead. " _I don't know, man, but somethin' is tellin' me to keep her around. Fate, you know? It's been real good to us._ "

Jim, still high on his painkillers, picks at his stitches with his fingernails. Lester leans over and slaps his hand away from his side.

" _Stop that, goddammit,_ " Lester's distracted for a moment, but he refocuses. " _Well, you'd better get ta tellin' her the truth if you believe you can because if ya really like this woman, she really needs ta know about this part o' yer life. It's not somethin' you can hide forever._ "

Darwin, of course, already knows this. He closes his blue eyes, wondering how that conversation will go in his head. He recalls what happened downstairs in the lobby.

" _I guess I'll tell her over breakfast tomorrow or somethin'. I told her that I'd tell her what I'd want her to do, but I guess this should come first,_ " he mumbles.

Darwin and Lester move onto other topics, and around the corner, Red is bundled in her cotton robe and she's biting her lip.

She heard everything.

Red quietly closes and locks her bedroom door, and she turns to look at the room she's in.

Everything looks fancy and expensive. The only things that look out of place are her mud-covered shoes, her old backpack and clothes, and, well, her.

She tightens the robe around her and she pulls the sheets back on the bed and then she lies down. God, she's working for a killer. Darwin's a killer.

" _Is he going to kill me?_ " she asks herself, too afraid to know the answer.

Suddenly, the sound of soft knocking makes her sit up in bed and she hugs the sheets against her.

" _I'm…_ " she tries to look for an excuse not to unlock the door. " _I'm naked!_ "

The soft knocking stops and there's a brief moment of silence.

" _It's a shame that these doors have locks then,_ " Darwin comments. " _I just wanted to say goodnight. I'm hittin' the hay, so if you need anythin' or if you leave the penthouse for any reason, tell me first. And we can, uh, have breakfast tomorrow. We can talk about your job details and other things then._ "

Red squeezes her eyes shut, his simple comments suddenly seem hard to respond to.

" _Oh… Okay. Thanks. Goodnight,_ " she struggles to speak calmly.

On the other side of the door, Darwin slightly narrows his eyes in suspicion, but he leaves to head back to his room to get settled into bed.

A few hours later, in the middle of the night, Darwin opens his eyes when he hears a strange sound in the next room. He quietly gets off his bed and he reaches into his duffel bag for a gun. His fingertips roll the silencer onto his firearm and then he inches his way across the bedroom to locate the source of the sound.

Darwin comes closer to the sound and he flips the light switch, turning it on.

Red's backpack lands on the ground and something shatters inside of it. In her right hand is a plate from the dining table. She stares at Darwin, wide-eyed.

Darwin lowers his gun and he looks her over, confused more than angry.

" _What the hell are you doin'?_ " he narrows his eyes at her.

Red darts her eyes at the front door like a corned animal looking at its only escape route. She tosses the plate at him, grabs her backpack off the floor and she makes a run for it.

Darwin smacks the plate away from him and it rolls onto the carpet in the next room and then it wobbles to a halt.

Near the front door, Red is about to reach for the handle when Darwin grabs the strap of her backpack and he roughly tugs it out of her arms. He drops it on the floor and he whips her around to face him. Red squeaks, covering her face to protect herself from the hit that she believes is coming.

Darwin is used to seeing this defensive pose by many people, both men and women, but this time it's different. He looks her over, watching the way she's shaking. She lost one of her shoes on the way to the door and she's wearing her old clothes.

He turns the safety back on and he tucks the barrel of his gun into the waistband of his jeans behind him. He slowly touches her wrist and Red tenses even more.

" _Hey, I ain't gonna hurt you,_ " he speaks softly.

Red shakes her head, refusing to believe him.

" _Yes, you will. I heard what you said. You're a killer,_ " she whispers behind her hands.

Darwin closes his eyes for a moment and he drops his hand back down to his side.

" _Well, you didn't hear wrong,_ " he admits that it's the truth. " _I didn't want you to find out by eavesdroppin', which is rude, I might add, but I was gonna tell you over breakfast._ "

Red lowers her hands and she looks at him, eye to eye.

" _I want to leave. I don't know what you had planned for me, but I won't help you kill innocent people,_ " she keeps her hands against her chest in case he reacts violently.

Darwin runs his fingers through his messy hair and he takes a step back to give her more space.

" _I understand that you wanna leave, but I just want you to hear me out. We can sit down, have a talk, and if you still wanna leave after what I tell you, then I'll give you all the money that I was plannin' on givin' you and then you can leave,_ " he cocks his eyebrow. " _Deal?_ "

Red tries to find the truth in his eyes, but he's unreadable.

She walks around him and she goes into the dining room to take a seat at the table. What has she to lose? Darwin grabs her backpack from the floor and he follows her.

He sits at the head at the table, the same seat he takes back home, and he rubs his tired eyes.

Red doesn't look at him.

" _I kill people, but I don't kill innocent people, Red,_ " he starts. " _I kill drug dealers, rapists, animal abusers, child molesters, cheaters and other people that do harm to others who really are innocent. They hire me and I track the guilty down, and I do my job. Sometimes, I do the job for free dependin' on how greatly my client suffered, or sometimes, I just hear about people that are doin' bad shit in my town and I decide to put an end to it without bein' asked._ "

Somewhere during his explanation, Red raises her eyes to look at him.

" _So, you're basically a vigilante,_ " she realizes and then she shakes her head. " _But how can you be sure you're killing the 'right' people?_ "

Darwin stretches his legs out under the table, relaxing.

" _Well, some folks get in touch with me and they give me all the details that I need to know,_ " he pauses, squinting his right eye. " _Most of the time, anyway, but I usually have to do the hard stuff. These people that I go after, some are easy to find and some are hard to find._ "

He taps his fingers on the table and then he nods to the door.

Darwin gets up from the table and Red hesitantly follows him, and she glances at her backpack on the table before she walks around the corner.

Once they're in his bedroom, he lifts his duffel bag off the floor and he places it on the bed. He reaches behind him, lowering his gun to his side. Red stares at it and then she looks at him.

" _I create a file for every target and I stalk them. Whatever I find goes into their file, and when I'm certain that they truly are guilty, I find them._ "

He places the firearm on the bed and he takes out more guns from his duffel bag.

" _Some of these people, like the drug dealers, are usually armed, so I have to get geared up,_ " he talks as he lifts a Kevlar vest out of his bag. " _I wear this and I wear elbow pads, knee pads and I rub fire-retardant gel on all the visible spaces because, well, sometimes my hits can be pretty explosive, so I wanna make sure to protect my skin._ "

He takes out two files and he opens one of them, dropping it down on the bed in front of Red. She sees a picture of a woman on the left side of the folder and on the right, a sheet that's full of notes. She turns the page to see black and white pictures of the woman standing in front of an open door, kissing someone, and there's another picture of her in the same shot, only she's glancing over her shoulder.

" _You…_ " Red gulps. " _You kill women, too?_ "

Darwin turns his eyes on her and he slowly nods his head.

" _Sometimes, the crimes a woman can commit are worse than what a man can do,_ " he explains.

Red reaches for the other folder and he slides it out of her reach.

" _Trust me, you don't wanna see the pictures in that folder,_ " Darwin warns her.

She retracts her hand, taking his word for it. Her eyes wander to the array of weapons that's on his bed and she slides her fingertips over the blades of his duel-machetes.

" _So, you don't kill innocent people at all?_ " she doesn't look at him, almost mesmerized by the deadly instruments.

She can smell a soft hint of blood and something else. It's that oil smell again.

" _Well, some people get in the way and if I have no other choice, then they'll become causalities of war. It's just the way it has to be,_ " he tries to justify his actions.

Red moves her fingertips over the barrels of his guns and she rests her palm on his vest.

" _I still don't know what you wanted me to do, Darwin. I can't kill people, even if they're guilty,_ " she confesses.

Darwin comes around the bed and it makes Red straighten up. He grabs his vest and he holds it out to her. Cautiously, she takes it and she looks down at it, noticing that it isn't light as she expected it to be. It's around twenty-something pounds.

" _I was hopin' that you could help me get into my armor and help me remove it whenever I come back to you. Once in awhile, someone can get lucky and hurt me, so I'm usually not fit to get outta it myself. I am, but it'd be faster if I had someone to help me,_ " he nods at the vest. " _I know you don't know where to start, so I'll teach you right now. Undo both side straps and then just sit it on my shoulders._ "

Red tilts the vest to the moonlight shining in through the window and she pulls the right strap loose and then she pulls the left strap loose. She rotates the vest, coming closer to Darwin.

He slightly raises his arms away from his sides, and she lowers the vest down on his shoulders and over his bare chest. She's close enough to count the stubble on his cheeks.

" _Good. Now, one at a time, pull a strap against my side. I like it tight, and make sure it looks even to you. Nothin' worse that runnin' away from the scene of a crime and your vest suddenly comes loose on one side,_ " he raises his chin.

Red places her hand against his right side and she pulls the strap to tighten it. It's flattened and she does the same to the other side.

Once she lowers her hands, Darwin tilts his head down to look at the placement of the vest. He moves his arms a little to see if it's tight enough.

" _Nice job, and you see here? The bottom of the vest should be right near my navel,_ " he pats his stomach. " _And to take it off, you just undo one side and off it goes._ "

He yanks the strap away from his left side and he tilts his head, removing his vest.

Red chews on her bottom lip, still bothered by so many questions.

" _So, you're going to pay me money just to help you take a vest on and off?_ " she knows there has to be more to this 'job.'

And there is.

" _It's part of the job. Sometimes, I'll need help gettin' bandaged up, too,_ " and Red looks like she's about to say something, so he continues. " _I won't be makin' you do major surgeries on me like a lung transplant, but simple stuff like stitchin' a wound shut or even soakin' a gauze pad with rubbin' alcohol. In exchange, you'll always have food to eat, protection and money, and most of all,_ _ **a warm place**_ _to stay._ "

Red looks at all of the weapons lying on his bed and the open folder with a picture of a woman that has long been dead, and she looks into Darwin's blue eyes again.

" _Okay,_ " she's certain. " _I'll stay._ "

Darwin smirks, happy with the outcome of this conversation.

" _Alright then,_ " he drops his vest back on the bed.

" _I'm sorry that I tried to steal stuff from the room and sneak out. I just heard what you said and I got scared. But now that you explained it to me, I understand,_ " she sounds a little embarrassed.

Darwin shakes his head, moving to collect his things and he starts putting it back into his duffel bag. Red moves to his side to help him.

" _I shouldn't have lied to you in the first place, but I didn't think you'd just come with me for no reason. I had to give you one,_ " Darwin softly chuckles. " _I'm sure you weren't expectin' that, but it's the truth. It's what I do for a livin' and I enjoy it. It's what my brothers do for a livin', too._ "

She glances at him and she passes Darwin his machetes.

" _You have brothers?_ " she shouldn't be surprised, but she is.

" _Yeah, I do. I have three brothers back home in South Lake Tahoe. Jim, Lester and Jeeves,_ " he thinks about them and he shakes his head. " _Goddamn, they drive me crazy, especially Jim. But he's more of a thorn in Lester's side than mine, so I'm fine with that._ "

Red repeats the names in her head. Jim. Lester. Jeeves.

She wonders what they look like and if they look like Darwin, and she wonders if they have his blue eyes. It's always the first thing she notices when she looks at him.

" _Maybe you can tell me about them over breakfast tomorrow,_ " she lightly hints.

Darwin zips up his bag and he carries it over to the chair by the window. He turns around to face her and he rubs his fingers together.

" _I'm gonna trust you, Red, to go back to your bedroom and go to sleep. I'm gonna trust you to not make a second attempt to sneak out because I'll find out and I ain't gonna be too happy,_ " he looks her over, tapping his fingers against his thigh. " _Maybe I should have you sleep beside me._ "

Red blinks her eyes, not really sure how to answer that.

" _I… You can trust me. I won't go anywhere and you haven't hurt me, so I have no reason to leave or to fear you,_ " her voice is shaky.

Darwin rubs his forearm, eying her tiredly.

" _You should fear me, Red. Everyone else does,_ " it's a polite warning.

But instead of instilling fear, it makes Red visibly shiver and she quickly turns to head back to her own bedroom.

" _Red,_ " Darwin makes her pause in the doorway. " _Were you really naked?_ "

A blush darkens her pale cheeks and she's suddenly glad that he asked her that when she has her back turned to him.

" _No, I wasn't,_ " Red glances over her shoulder and then she quickly retreats.

Darwin gets back into bed and he checks his cell phone. There are a few missed calls and a few unread text messages. His vision blurs when he tries to read the words, so he decides to return his phone to the nightstand and he pulls the sheets over his body.

He closes his eyes.


	2. Learning

Before the sun is up, Darwin is out of bed and dressed. He checks to see that Red is still there, so he leans into her bedroom. She's still asleep. This is probably the first time, in a long time; that she's slept in a nice bed. She's been wandering the states for months, and it's an assumption that she slept in tents or on couches in strangers' living rooms or even on park benches.

Red rolls over in her sleep and Darwin notices that she's wearing her robe again. His eyes wander to her clothes on the tabletop near the window. She must have washed them and left them to dry during the night.

Darwin glances at Red before he steps further into her bedroom and he walks over to the clothes. He lays the length of his forearm across her shirt's waistline to measure it and he crouches down, lifting the tongue of one of her boots to check her size. He exhales, thinking.

Coming to a decision, he leaves her bedroom, and he heads into another room to find a pen and pad of paper. There's always one in hotel rooms.

He scribbles a note to her and he grabs a piece of duct tape from the roll in his bag and then he presses the note against the front door in case Red wakes up and wonders where he went.

He heads down to the lobby, and he locates the shops. Every place should be open; of course, it's 9:13 AM.

After almost two hours of annoyance and mild confusion, Darwin heads back upstairs with bags in his hands. In the elevator on the way back up to the penthouse, he wonders if she's even going to like these clothes. He has no idea what style she likes. When he met Red, all she was wearing was a shirt, shorts and boots.

Darwin quietly reenters the room and as he closes the door, he notices that the note is gone.

She must be awake.

" _I'm back,_ " he announces.

Red turns the corner, rubbing her eye and she sleepily blinks at him.

" _Hi,_ " she sees the bags in his hands. " _What are those?_ "

Somewhere inside of Darwin, there's a part of him that's chuckling like a nervous teenager. He walks over to her and he nods to the living room.

The bags are placed on the table and he grabs the 17-page menu in his hand and then he sits down. He opens it to scan the list of foods and amenities that this room has to offer.

" _I figured you needed new clothes, so I went downstairs and I did a little shoppin',_ " he doesn't look up at her, trying to play it cool. " _I'm sure others got a kick outta seein' a hick in those fancy shops, but the sellers were nice. Some of the women helped me._ "

Red looks inside of the bags to find dresses, a few long skirts, blouses, underwear, perfumes, sandals and even a necklace.

" _Darwin, these price tags…_ " she stares at one of them.

Darwin shut the menu and he reaches out, yanking it off the sleeve of the dress.

" _Shouldn't have been left on there,_ " he grumbles, positive that he told the person at the cashier to remove them. " _We can order room service, anythin' you want, and maybe you can try on these clothes afterwards to see if they fit or if you like their style. If not, I'll return them and we can find clothes that better suits you._ "

Red hugs the dress to her chest and she's grinning from ear to ear. She drops the dress back inside of the bag and she reaches for him.

" _Can I hug you?_ " her eyes are sparkling.

Darwin places the menu aside and he slowly gets to his feet. It's not everyday that a woman wants to hug him, especially a woman that knows what he does for a living.

Red wraps her arms around his neck and she presses her body against him. He places his hands on her lower back. The two of them stand there in the living room, chest to chest, and the embrace feels like forever until Darwin clears his throat and then he steps away.

" _Well…_ " he trails off. " _I know what I want. You should look at what you want and we can give the people downstairs a call, so we can place our orders._ "

Red touches his hand, gives it a squeeze, and she picks up the menu.

When the food arrives to the room, it's set on the dining room table and Red and Darwin get comfortable. He sits at the head of the table and she sits beside him.

Red grabs a chilled snow crab claw off the seafood platter.

" _Are you going to tell me about your brothers?_ " the question sounds half-hearted, especially with such a distracting banquet in front of her. Red hasn't had this kind of food in months, but she truly is interested in learning more about the man at her side.

Darwin knows how long this is going to take, so he gets comfortable. He begins by telling Red how Lester, Jeeves and him lived with Fritz, their father.

He explains that Fritz wanted his boys to learn what it meant to be Tremors, which meant that they had to learn how to kill and how to desensitize themselves for the horrors to come as the world grew older. He wanted his boys to be men in size 5 shoes.

 **Jeeves:** He tells Red that Jeeves was small, scrawny and weak, so Fritz had sent him away to live with his mother. She was a sick woman, Jeeves' mother, who drank and did drugs, and she eventually found herself involved with a group of men that shared the same fantasy of spending time with a little boy in his bedroom at night.

One night, Jeeves' mother brought one of those men home, and while her son cried and screamed, she'd be waiting right outside of his bedroom door with her hand out to collect the money that she was owed, and this went on for a few more years.

Jeeves, having had enough, picked the lock to his bedroom door and he went to his garage to find a container of gasoline and matches. He saw a chainsaw resting on the workbench. After pouring gasoline through his house and dropping the match to start a fire, he carried the chainsaw into his mother's bedroom where she was passed out. He yanked the pull cord and she didn't wake up as the chainsaw roared to life. She just…went to sleep and never woke up.

Jeeves, smeared with ashes and blood, walked his way through the wilderness and he made his way back home. When Fritz saw what he became, he decided to keep him, instead of call the police to tell them about his whereabouts.

Darwin clears his throat.

He goes on to tell Red that he used to run away a lot, so he was gone when Jeeves was sent to live with his mother and he was gone when Jeeves returned. He was there long enough to see what his brother was and what he had become.

It made him stay away even longer and the only times he'd come home is when he had money and gifts to give his brothers.

While he was away, Lester took care of Jeeves. He recalls the moments that Lester told him after everything had happened.

 **Lester:** Lester was heartbroken and he begged Fritz not to send Jeeves away because Lester knew that his mother was sick and that she wouldn't treat him right, and that he was going to be lonely. Fritz didn't care. Fritz didn't care a lot about what Lester thought or said, and the only time he paid him any attention was when he found a cooking magazine under his bed, instead of a nudie magazine.

Fritz hated the fact that one of his sons wanted to do household chores like the laundry and cook and mend clothes and clean. He told Lester that it was a woman's job to do that and he's supposed to be like Darwin, adventurous and strong-willed.

And whenever Fritz was drunk, he'd raise a hand to Lester and Lester took it.

When Jeeves returned home, Lester told Darwin, he was able to take care of him because he learned everything that he could during Jeeves' time away.

He didn't know, exactly, what his mother did to him, but he knew enough that it made Lester step in front of Fritz when he tried to raise a hand to Jeeves. He knew that he had been abused enough.

Lester became Jeeves' guardian and his mother and father, and he took odd jobs around town to make sure he had enough food on the table to feed his brother and even Fritz.

Darwin lowers his gaze, feeling guilty for not being there for his brothers when they needed him and then he continues.

He goes on to explain that when he finally returned home as a man, he found out from Fritz that Jeeves was in the slammer and Lester didn't want to live here without him. Since Lester didn't want to break any laws and since he couldn't bear to live with Fritz alone again, he left. Darwin didn't know where, but it made him angry.

Darwin blamed Fritz and after a long, physical fight, he told Fritz to pack up his things and leave. And the next morning, Fritz was gone.

Darwin had reclaimed the house and it took him over a year to fix it up. Once all the rooms were cleaned and all the pipes and bathrooms were fixed and the house was repainted, he couldn't help but notice that something was still missing from it.

He had to find his brothers.

Darwin went into town to gather supplies for his long trip and he noticed that there was a new church at the end of the street. Faith, he wanted to have some, so he placed his bags in the car and he went to see if he could obtain some spiritual guidance that could possibly help him find his missing brothers.

He looks at Red, and he said that when he slipped into the confessional, the voice that came through the mesh screen sounded so familiar. It was his brother, Lester. He had left Fritz to enter the priesthood.

Darwin was elated to have been reunited with one of his brothers, and he told Lester that he kicked Fritz out of their home and he fixed everything up. He asked Lester to come and live with him, but he was hesitant. That house has a lot of bad memories for him, and they were still going to be one brother short.

Lester knew about Jeeves being sent to jail. After all, Fritz turned Jeeves into what he wanted. A killer. Lester had told Darwin that he was at the local jail, but then he was moved to another town and then another, and Lester couldn't keep track of him anymore. He had lost his brother and he felt like it was his fault because it was his job to take care of him.

In an effort to convince Lester to come back home, he told Lester to come with him to Las Vegas to spend a few nights there with him so that they could enjoy all the years they lost together while they were apart.

Lester agreed, and they were off to Las Vegas.

 **Jim:** While Lester and Darwin were there, they stopped at a bar to have a few drinks when someone made a comment about Lester because he was still wearing his cassock at the time. It made Darwin angry, so he confronted the man, Drake, and then Drake's friend tried to stop the fight from progressing. One thing lead to another, and Drake's friend started a bar fight, and Lester and Darwin ran out before the police came.

Eventually, they found a casino to lay low in, and Drake's friend happened to be there. Since Darwin believed that they were followed, he called the man over and they all sat down for a drink and he gave him his name.

Darwin smiles at Red and her eyes are large.

It was Jim.

Jim grew up in a trailer park, and he lived with his mother. Unlike Jeeves' mother, Jim's mother had addictions, but she wasn't abusive towards him. But that didn't spare Jim the string of abusive relationships that he went through, as he was growing up. When Jim's mother was diagnosed with Cancer after Jim graduated high school, he knew that he had to find a way to make more money that the money he made working at a factory, so he visited casinos and charmed high rollers for a portion of their money, and a few other things.

It kept his mother's hospital bills paid until the last bill that he had to pay was her funeral bill.

At that time, Jim was dating a man named Byron, who was heavily into drugs. Whenever Byron wasn't 'sharing' Jim with his friends for free drugs, they were trying to kill Jim because Byron couldn't pay them off in time or he refused to.

After a few apologies and a few sips of booze, Jim had told Darwin and Lester that he was in search of his real father.

Fritz Tremor.

It caused both Lester and Darwin to pause and as Lester was looking Jim over in disbelief, Darwin took out his real ID and he showed him his last name.

Tremor.

Convinced and shocked, Darwin offered Jim to come home with the two of them, so they made plans to meet the next morning by a fountain.

Unfortunately, as Darwin and Lester were waiting for their brother to arrive, he came running towards them with his arms failing. Driving behind him was a car packed with men who wanted to gun him down.

It was the men that Byron forgot to pay off, so after a few exchanged shots, they escaped unharmed.

But before they started their long drive back to South Lake Tahoe, Jim wanted to stop by his trailer to pick up his things and say goodbye to Drake and leave a note for Byron, which he did.

And on their way back home, they began to talk about Jeeves and how it would be wrong to return home without all of them, so they developed a plan to track their missing brother down and then they did.

Darwin, Jim and Lester broke Jeeves out of jail and the four brothers drove back home…

Red thumps her back against her seat, amazed by the stories that she just listened to. She thinks about all four of them: Lester the Holy Man, Darwin the Leader, Jeeves the Giant, and Jim the Troublemaker.

She sighs, praying to God that she will be able to meet them one day.

" _Thank you, Darwin, for sharing those stories. I would have never guessed that your brothers had those kinds of lives. Are they okay now?_ " she looks concerned; worried about men she's never even met.

He notices this and it's more concern than anyone else has ever shown his family before.

" _They're back home in South Lake Tahoe, and all of them are safe. Well…_ " he remembers how the beginning of last night's conversation went. " _Jim was injured on a hit, but he's fine. He's drivin' Lester crazy and he's loaded up on painkillers as we speak. They're keepin' the house together until I get back, which is I don't know when._ "

Having regained her appetite, Red collects some food on her plate and she folds her legs under her, resting the plate on her lap. She watches Darwin, a question on her tongue.

" _So, what do they do when they're not, you know?_ " she clears her throat.

Darwin continues to eat, squinting his eyes.

" _Lester doesn't kill people anymore, not unless one of our lives are in danger, so he does the laundry, cooks the food, mends our clothes and he tends to our wounds. He's the cook and doctor of the family,_ " Darwin starts. " _Jeeves collects money from people that we killed for, and he keeps hunters off our land because he loves animals. He also chops wood for our fireplace, feeds the wild critter, so Jeeves is the guardian of our land. Jim does a lot of tech stuff and he goes on hits like I do. He's our hacker and he provides income for the household, and entertainment._ "

Red chews slower, thinking about the stories again, and she realizes that she hasn't heard his story yet. Not all of it. She swallows her food and pats her mouth with a napkin.

" _You've told me about your brothers, but what about you? Where did you go when you ran away from home?_ " she doesn't expect him to tell her.

Darwin taps his fork on the placemat under his plate, looking at her.

" _We should finish eatin' and talk about what's to come,_ " he skewers a piece of meat and eats it.

After breakfast, Red collects her bags and she disappears into her bedroom to try on her new clothes. She's excited and happy, hoping to God that at least some of these outfits fit.

Darwin goes to his bedroom and he stands near the window to check his phone. He's been so distracted by the new woman in his life that he's been ignoring everyone else, except his brothers.

He starts to read the text messages that were left for him, taking note of the timestamps.

" _I was given your number from a friend. You were highly recommended. Are you interested? Respond as soon as possible. Urgent mission,_ " he reads the first text message and then he reads the next one. " _I really acquire someone like you. 24-hours to answer._ "

Darwin rubs his eyes with the palm of his hand, agitated. It's not like him to forget to respond or be too busy to respond.

The other text messages are from his brother, Jeeves, and the text messages contain pictures of parks, bundles of money and a gash on the back of his hand.

The only thing left is a voicemail, so Darwin listens to it.

" _Darwin Tremor, you didn't answer me,_ " there's silence again and it's strangely long, long enough for Darwin to wonder if the Russian accidentally forgot to hang up. " _It doesn't matter anymore. I will be getting in touch with you again._ "

After all his messages are read, like always, Darwin forwards them to Jim to be analyzed.

" _Darwin?_ " Red stands in the doorway, staring at his back.

His eyes linger on his phone and then Darwin turns around.

Red is wearing one of the dresses that he bought her and he tucks his phone into his pocket. Darwin smiles, looking her over.

" _Goddamn, you sure look…_ " he cocks his head. " _You sure look beautiful, Red. Do you like the dress? What about the other stuff? Did they fit?_ "

She slowly twirls around, and the hem of the dress lifts up and spins with her.

" _One dress was a little loose on me, but everything else was perfect, and I love this dress,_ " she exclaims in excitement.

He stares at her, finding it hard to look away, especially when she's smiling.

Darwin likes her…

" _Tonight, the blade of a guillotine is about to drop down on a few necks,_ " he draws his fingertip across the width of his throat and then he drops his hand. " _My target is Charles Neal, and his crime is abductin' a little girl, so let me tell you about him._ "

Darwin sits down on the couch near the window in his bedroom and Red sits down near him. She places her hands on her lap, uncertain if she's ready to hear all the gruesome details of whom this man is and what's going to happen to him.

" _I found out who he was because I have several connections out here that work undercover for me. All of them have done time before, but it was for menial shit like stealin' or aggravated assault. Anyway, one of my friends out here in Las Vegas told me that he recently became friends with this fella. He said that somethin' was off about him, you know the type, you can always tell. Well, he was over Charles' house one night and they got on the subject of wives and children and then Charles just started to focus on talkin' about children. He asked my friend if he could keep a secret and then he told him that he had a girl in his basement,_ " Darwin reaches over and he grabs the file from his bed and then he leans back. " _My friend acted like he was on the same page, so he asked to see the girl. Charles let him go down into the basement, and he recognized the girl immediately from the news._ "

He turns the page to show Red a picture of a teary-eyed girl that's tied to a chair, a gag over her mouth. She touches her stomach and it feels like someone stabbed her with an icicle. A cold feeling comes over her.

" _He asked her questions, like if she was touched or anythin' of that nature and if she was bein' fed and allowed to use the restroom. She said that she wasn't touched, but she said that Charles made her dress up and take pictures of her in these costumes. She said that he set up a webcam and he just sat behind her and brushed her hair, and he told her that she had to be good because his 'friends' were watchin' him,_ " Darwin shakes his head. " _Believe it or not, but Charles dropped her off back home. All he wanted was pictures of her to sell to his friends and nothin' more, but since my friend told me about it, I'm gonna make sure that Charles doesn't do this to anyone else ever again._ "

Red can visualize everything, and she sympathizes with the girl's parents. They must have been so terrified and worried that they would never see their baby again.

" _But how will you leave here dressed the way that you're dressed?_ " she furrows her eyebrows. Darwin's impressed by her awareness.

" _I know the head of security here. I helped his sister get rid of a really abusive boyfriend,_ " he explains. " _He's gonna cordon off a few areas and turn off the cameras, claim that he'll be lookin' at the wirin' and guests won't be able to return to their rooms until I'm back, safe and sound._ "

Red sighs in relief, but she's also unsettled by the fact that Darwin knows many people and they're willing to do things that could get them in big trouble, especially if the police found out that they were aiding a criminal. She's just like them now, she thinks, and Red watches the way he stares at Charles' picture. He's doing what so many are failing to do, protect the innocent.

She tries to remember that.

" _What should I expect when you return?_ " she turns her head to look out the window at the city below them. It looks so far from where they are.

" _I suggest you not make any sudden movements around me because I'm still gonna be high on adrenaline when I get back, so it makes me a little high-strung,_ " he tells her. " _You should also expect blood. It depends on how creative I get when I finally meet Charles. Sometimes, there are only a few specks of blood on my cheek. Other times, I'm drenched with it. It's itchy as hell._ "

Red takes a mental note to run him a hot bath, and she places her hand on his knee.

" _You've taken care of me since we met. It'll be nice to take care of you, too,_ " her voice soft. Darwin looks at her hand and then he looks at Red's face.

He's thinking about _it_.

" _For now, I'm gonna need some time to mentally prepare, so you can do whatever you want until I call for you. Maybe you can read a book in front of the fireplace,_ " he suggests.

Red slips off the couch, brushing her hands down her dress. It's probably one of the most expensive things she has ever worn and owned.

" _I'll be in the next room and I'll come when you call me,_ " Red leaves Darwin to his thoughts.

Hours later, it's nighttime again and while everyone is getting ready for bed, Darwin is getting ready to kill. He calls Red back to his bedroom, and she stands near the door until he beckons for her to come closer. Darwin sits on the edge of his bed and he begins to put his protective pads on.

Once everything is in place and buckled to him, he motions to Red and she grabs the bulletproof vest from his bag and then she does what she was taught earlier.

With his vest on, Darwin opens his container of fire-retardant gel.

" _Do you think you can rub this on me?_ " he holds the container out to Red.

Her hand trembles when she takes the container from him and Darwin turns around to face his back towards her. Red rubs the gel between the spaces of his shoulder pads and his vest, and she rubs a little near his elbows. She touches his arm, silently telling him to turn around and she scoops up a glob of the gel with her fingers.

Red rubs her hands together and she rubs his neck, staring into his eyes.

" _You should wear that robe when I come back,_ " he pauses, letting her wonder what he means by that. " _I don't wanna get any of your new clothes dirty with sweat and blood._ "

He can feel her hands shake against him and she lowers her head once she's done.

" _I hope…_ " she can barely form a thought. " _I hope you return safely, Darwin. I'll be waiting._ "

When she looks back up at him, Darwin touches the side of her face with his fingertips.

" _It's nice to have someone to return to,_ " he whispers.

Darwin lowers his hand and he wraps his belt around his waist, adding the finishing touches.

Red can feel his touch linger on her cheek.

Before he exits into the hallway, he holds his eye up to the peephole of the door, waiting for something to happen. The light in the hallway flickers and then it goes dark.

Red watches him from afar, wondering what he's doing and then the phone rings.

It causes Red to whip around.

" _Answer that for me, will you?_ " Darwin keeps his eye on the darkened hallway as Red walks over to the phone to answer it. She listens, and she walks over to him.

The phone is placed in his hand and he holds the phone to his ear.

" _The cameras on the stairwell have been momentarily shut off, the hallway lights are turned off and your car is parked on the side of the building, sir,_ " the voice informs him.

Darwin thanks the person and he hands the phone back to Red.

She walks into the room to return the phone to its receiver and by the time she comes back, Darwin is gone; so she begins to wait.

Red kills an hour by pacing back and forth in the living room. The television is on, and it's playing the news so she can see if Darwin will be featured on tonight's breaking story. There's nothing so far, but when the woman talks about an explosion, it glues her eyes to the screen.

" _An unidentified car has been seen speeding away from the fire, but due to the amount of smoke, police have been unable to detect where the vehicle went,_ " the reporter says.

It makes Red collapse in relief on the couch, but she straightens up when she realizes that Darwin will be returning soon. His car isn't exactly low-key, but if he was able to leave his hit unscathed, then he should have no trouble returning to the hotel.

She goes to the bathroom and she begins to prepare a hot bath for him.

As the water fills the tub, she sits on its edge and she watches the water ripple as it pours. Relieved. She feels relieved that Darwin escaped.

Once the water is high enough, she turns the faucet off and she pours some bath oil and body wash into the water and then she uses her hand to stir it.

She wipes her hands on a cotton towel, and she turns her head to the side when she hears the door open and close. The towel is abandoned on the floor and she rushes out to see who it is. Standing near the front door, Darwin is staring through the peephole, his hand on the wall.

Red steps closer to see him better and Darwin looks over his shoulder.

He lowers his hand from the wall and it leaves a bloody handprint on the wallpaper. It makes Red back up and she bumps into the doorframe. Darwin turns the rest of his body and she can see it now. His armor is splattered with blood and she can smell a foul odor resonating from him.

Red covers her mouth with her hand, and Darwin lifts his goggles away from his eyes. There are two visibly clean circles that surround them and it underlines how filthy he has become.

" _It ain't a pretty sight, is it?_ " he sounds so casual about it.

He removes his goggles and he tilts his head, looking over her shoulder, and he can hear the television in the living room. Darwin walks pass her and it makes Red tense for a moment. It can only make her imagine how his victim must have felt.

Hesitantly, she follows him into the living room and see can see him much better now that he's standing in the light. He's covered in blood and his hair looks like it has been washed in it. It makes her start to feel nauseous, so she focuses on the television, instead.

" _I…_ " Red tries to find her voice. " _I drew you a bath in your bathroom._ "

Darwin continues to watch the news, but he nods his head.

When there's a commercial break, he leaves the living room and he heads to the bathroom in his bedroom. He removes his belt, dropping it on the floor. His guns are placed beside the sink and he kicks his boots off and pulls his socks off his feet. Silently, Red comes forward and she starts to help him remove his armor.

When all the pieces are removed, Darwin reaches down and he unzips his jeans. He stares at Red, not asking her to leave or look away. Red blinks her eyes and she turns away to collect his things to place them on the counter.

" _I'll fill the sink and start scrubbing your things,_ " she keeps her eyes down as she turns the faucet on to fill the sink with hot water.

Naked, Darwin sinks into the bathtub and he exhales. He tilts his head back to get his hair wet and he grab the tiny bottle of shampoo and then he dumps it on his head. He starts to scrub his scalp as he watches the water turn pink before his eyes.

Red chews on her lower lip and she looks at him in the mirror. There's a cut on the back of his right shoulder. It doesn't look serious, though. She lowers her eyes again, focusing on the pouring water.

Darwin starts to slap the cloth against his back, trying to get at a spot, but he can't reach it. Red turns the water off and she catches the cloth in her hand the next time he swings it over his shoulder.

He looks behind him, slowly lowering his hand back down into the water.

Red moves the cloth down the middle of his back and Darwin straightens up, so she can slide it lower until the cloth and her hand vanishes into the water.

Darwin closes his eyes to relax, finally coming down from the high.

" _You have a cut behind your right shoulder. I can clean it and cover it with a Band-Aid after your bath,_ " she rubs the cloth against his left shoulder.

Darwin opens his eyes and he slowly turns around to face her.

She dips the cloth into the water and she squeezes it semi-dry before she rubs the smear of blood off his cheek. Red looks into his dilated eyes.

" _I have somethin' that I wanna confess to you,_ " Darwin wipes away the shampoo that's crawling down his forehead and he rakes his hair back with his fingertips.

" _What, that you're a killer?_ " Red smiles and she lowers herself down on her knees. She reaches back for the glass cup on the counter. The cup is filled with bathwater and she tilts Darwin's head back, pouring the water over his hair. She uses the cloth to wipe his forehead and he levels his gaze to her again.

Red places the cup down on the floor and he places his hand on her hand. Red moves her gaze up his arm to his face.

" _I like you, Red,_ " he turns her hand over and he holds it. " _We haven't known each other for long, but I like you. You gave your last meal to hungry birds at the park, you abandoned your life to go on an adventure, you listen to interestin' music and you read interestin' books, and you still stayed with me after I told you what I do for a livin'._ "

She's speechless at first, but then her fingers tighten between the spaces of his. Red, teary-eyed, touches the side of his face.

" _You like me?_ " it might sound ridiculous to be overwhelmed when someone tells you that they like you, but to someone that hasn't even had that, it's just as strong as an 'I love you.' " _I like you too, Darwin. I'm afraid, but I like you, too._ "

" _We'll see where this goes, alright?_ " he eyes her.

Red nods her head and she wraps her arms around him.

Both of them are quiet for a while and all they can hear is the sound of the water dripping from the faucet. Eventually, they lean back to look at each other, and Darwin smiles.

" _You can leave the stuff on the sink and I can clean everythin' later,_ " he motions to the sink. " _And can you pass me one of them spare toothbrushes? I wanna clean all the shit out from under my fingernails. They're lookin' a little discolored._ "

Red mocks a gag and she laughs, standing up from the edge of the bathtub.

She snatches a toothbrush from the glass cup and she unwraps it, handing it to him. She touches the side of his face, looking down at the smirking killer in the marble-rimmed bathtub filled with pink water. Red feels a surge of warmth fill her chest and then she leaves.

While Red waits for Darwin to finish, she stands near the window at her bedroom. She watches the lights burn the darkness of the city away. Cars zoom in every which way as they take some of the lights with them and across the hotel from them; she looks at the balconies.

Red notices a man staring at her and he's using binoculars.

The tip of his cigarette burns brighter when he inhales the smoke and the lights from the city reflect in the lens of the binoculars that are being held up to his eyes. Creepy, she thinks.

Slowly, she turns and Darwin startles her.

" _Jesus!_ " she exclaims. " _I didn't even hear you come in._ "

Darwin rubs a small towel against his head to dry his hair and he smirks.

" _I'm good at sneakin' up behind people,_ " he knocks his knuckles against the window. " _You should never be focused on just one thing because you never know what else can happen around you. You could have saw my reflection in the glass._ "

Red shakes her head, amazed by his way of thinking.

" _It sounds like you live a life of paranoia,_ " her smile dims when she realizes how terrible that must be.

Darwin shrugs his tattooed shoulders, turning to look around her bedroom and he compares it to the way that his looks. It's different, smaller, but still big than most rooms he's stayed in.

" _It's called paranoia to normal people, but it's called bein' smart to people that do what we do. It keeps me alive,_ " he hangs the towel on the back of the chair.

Red stares at his back and she slowly approaches him. Darwin has his eyes on her, of course, by using the reflective surface of the television screen. She hesitantly wraps her arms around him and he touches the back of her hands.

He closes his eyes as she presses her cheek against his bare skin.

Red steps away when she remembers his cut, though. She walks over to her backpack to grab a Band-Aid and disinfectant spray and she returns to him.

" _Are you done with work here? If so, what's going to happen next?_ " she asks as she tends to the cut.

Red tosses the Band-Aid wrapping in the trash and then she tosses the disinfectant spray on her bed, returning her arms around Darwin. He slowly turns in her arms and he slides his hands against her lower back, lacing his fingers together. He looks her over, getting used to seeing her in that robe.

" _We head back to South Lake Tahoe. The drive is pretty long, 7 hours and 15 minutes, so we're gonna stop at Tonopah to stay there until morning and then we continue the drive back home,_ " he squints his eyes over her head as he explains and then he looks at her again.

South Lake Tahoe, Red thinks. That's his home and that's where his brothers are. Suddenly, she feels nervous about going there with him. It's not that she doesn't trust him, but it's because she likes him and she's worried that his brothers won't. She chews on her bottom lip, and Darwin studies her. He knows that quirk all too well now.

" _Don't be nervous. My brothers are very warm, welcomin' people. They'll like you,_ " he assures her. " _I know I do._ "

He glances at her lips and Red blinks her eyes, silently inviting him.

Darwin lowers his head to meet her lips for the very first time and he closes his eyes, holding Red against him. She shivers in excitement and nervousness, and when Darwin feels this, he holds her a little tighter. When their lips part, he straightens back up and he lowers his hands to his sides.

" _Do you wanna sleep next to me tonight?_ " he sees Red's expression, so he elaborates. " _I'm not tryin' to initiate anythin' here. I'm just askin' you if you wanna sleep beside me. It's your choice, and I won't like you any less if you say no._ "

Red wonders if this is a test. She wonders if he'll be mad if she declines him, but then he said that it's her choice. She lowers her eyes, looking at her large bed.

" _I'll… I'll sleep in my own bed. I'm a cover hog and a hiker that let me sleep in her tent told me that I snore,_ " she blushes, still uncertain of her own answer.

Darwin slowly nods his head, respecting her wishes. He takes her hand and he kisses her knuckles.

" _If that's the case, I'll see you tomorrow mornin'. We can have breakfast somewhere downstairs after we pack our things and then we can check out,_ " he gently lowers her hand.

" _Goodnight, Darwin,_ " she stands on tiptoes and she kisses his cheek.

Darwin touches her side and then he walks around her, leaving her bedroom to go to his.

Red and Darwin settle into their own beds, and they fall asleep. One of them does, anyway. Red stays awake and she has her fingertips pressed against her lips, thinking about what happened in the bathroom and near the window. She's so caught in those moments that she doesn't realize how late it's gotten. Red rubs her tired eyes and she looks at the clock on her nightstand.

It's 2:42 AM, and Red has spent 6 hours thinking about Darwin.

Quietly, she slips out of bed and she walks to his bedroom.

Under the sheets, Darwin has his back turned towards her and just as Red's contemplating on whether or not she should slip into his bed, Darwin reaches back and he folds the sheets down from the other half of the bed.

Red clutches the collar of her robe, almost overcome by emotion.

And when she looks at the window, she can see his reflection staring at her. She smiles and then she crawls into the bed, lying with her back against his. Darwin slowly rolls over to face his back to the window and he wraps his arms around Red. She touches the back of his hand, nestling down.

" _I'm glad you decided to come,_ " he murmurs.

Red uses his knuckles to wipe her left eye dry and she softly laughs.

" _I'm glad, too,_ " there's happiness in her hushed voice.

Darwin closes his eyes and Red closes hers. They fall asleep together.

Outside on the other balcony, the man with the binoculars flicks his cigarette over the railing and then he pulls out his cell phone.

" _Он имеет любовника_ ," is the only thing he says before he steps into his room and he shuts the balcony door behind him.


End file.
